My soul’s work – Interview

A few months ago Meg Jamison from https://www.soul.work asked me for a really interesting interview. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been published yet on her website, but since I put a lot of effort to respond to these cool questions I wanted to share them with you :) Thank you, Meg!

So here’s the first part of the interview: ( it’s quite a big one, so part 2 will follow next week ;) )

What is your soul’s work?

(your purpose, your mission, the things that make you tick AND how you make a living)

It’s been a year now that I started being self-employed as an illustrator with my illustration studio COSYMORE. This has been one of the best decisions in my life so far. :-)

COSYMORE reflects mypurpose of living a creative and cosy life. Through my illustrations, I’d like to share little moments of happiness and coziness and I’d like to remember people to appreciate the little things in life. Coziness for me is more than just the fact of having a warm cup of tea with candle light around me. It’s actually a whole concept of living. It’s about creating a warm atmosphere, spending time with people I love and making daily tasks more meaningful and special. Since we are living in such a fast-paced world, overloaded with technology, we kind of stopped being authentic and conscious of how to live and interact. I think the only way to „escape“ from this daily „busy-ness“ is to be awareof the present, no matter where we are and what we’re doing. Over time I realized that some of these self-created recognizable moments of awareness have been the ones whilst I’ve been creating or drawing. Being focused on just one thing felt like meditation..oh and it still does.

And the best part of that: it’s part of my daily job. I couldn’t imagine anything better.

In my illustrations, you will probably see most of my little figures with closed eyes and happy faces. Well…no matter in which situation they are, they are enjoying the present moment. They feel cosy.A bit like littleday-dreamers …Did I mention that I’m a professional day-dreamer as well? :)

I make my living by offering an illustration service. I do commercial illustrations as well as illustrations for personal use. Right now I’m working on an illustration for a lovely Pilates Studio in
Aachen, Germany. What makes this assignment so special is the fact that there is a really lovely person behind that particular studio. Carolin Dyckhoff started 5 years ago with launching her own Pilates
Studio and you see her shining when she tells you about it. That’s really inspiring when you meet like-minded people. It also gives my job a meaningful purpose.

Why do you do what you do?

Take us on the journey of how you transitioned from life before to what you’re doing now… from the soul-sucking desk job, the angsty c years, the childhood years,seasons of wandering…

Since I was little I could spend hours and hours with drawing and crafting, just being on my own.

I’ve used to be a very shy kid and had quite a low self-confidence. BUT!

When it came to drawing lessons during school time, I’ve somehow been able to overcome that awkward introversion.

They took notice of my abilities and ooohhh I was so proud of that. Hrhrhrhr…..These moments of happiness (and strength) lead me to the thoughts of becoming, well not necessarily an artist, but ‘”someone who does creative things”. I remember my mom taking me to one of these craft & art shops and I was so convinced that I told her: When I’m a grown-up I want to come to that place very often because of my job”…

Well, a few years later these childhood dreams have been a bit modified…Unfortunately, we –pupils – got very discouraged to pursue a creative path. Studying art wouldn’t be a very good idea sincewe wouldn’t earn a crust with an artistic job. We should rather go for “the real jobs”. That was kind of disappointing, right? A bit later, I made the choice of studying architecture.

At least being an architect is a real job…

My first weeks as an architect have been so exciting. I felt so lucky like YAY I’VE MADE IT! let the real life begin…or something like that…

Oh yes…this so called “real life” quickly showed up and made me realize how unhappy I was after my work in the architecture office. I didn’t feel creative anymore- it’s like my creativity was kept as a prisoner in order to fulfill the prescribed rules of the world of architecture.

This job wasn’t my cup of tea…so yes…well done Lynn…studying 5-6 years of architecture to realize at the end that I didn’t want to pursue this kind of working and living for the next 40 years…

I felt depressed, anxious and desperate. Which decision shall we do in these moments?
That’s how I came to the decision to travel far away from home, emerging into a different culture, discovering new things and to have time to reflect. So my backpack and I, we’ve chosen to go to Vietnam for several weeks.

Can you imagine the shocked faces of your friends and family…whaaaat ? Are you traveling alone? Why…?

It might sound like one of these cliché – movies where a woman travels on her own to find herself. Well, I can only confirm that it worked for me. :-) Being in the middle of nowhere you feel so little and yet so strong.

I’ve got so inspired by the simple lifestyle of the Vietnamese people I’ve met. How they showed gratefulness towards their environment. During this trip, I made a lot of pictures. A photographer I’ve met over there showed me how to improve my photography skills and by that, I quickly learned that by taking pictures we can literary train our eyes to see the little things in our life. A really good exercise as well for being conscious of the present.

I came back from that eye-opening trip and decided to quit my job – a hard and painful decision.

Luckily I had the possibility to work in primary schools as a substitute teacher where I kind of attained my next enlightenment. While working with kids, I thought I could teach THEM very important stuff from life, but it turned out that they – without being aware of it – they taught ME how to be CURIOUS again! Kids never stop questioning the things around them, like little philosophers. Oh
my gosh, I was so inspired by them. How they were exploring and discovering their environment,
experimenting, being creative in any possible way…Why do we loose our curiosity? Why do we stop exploring the world and take most things forgranted? And most of all, why do forget about our childhood passions?
Nowadays I’m proud of my zigzag life path, it’s part of who I am and what I do now. I rediscovered my childhood passions and I’ll not let go of them a second time.

Part 2 of this interview will follow in a week :) So stay tuned <3

Wish you a wonderful day,

Lynn

My soul’s work – Interview was last modified: March 21st, 2017 by Lynn

Linda, thank you so much ❤ It means a lot to me when YOU (especially YOU) are writing me these words. It was thanks to you, that I’ve got this opportunity of having this interview and you were absolutely right that I had to reflect a lot about my life, my decisions…It felt so good at the end! Hope we can have our philosophical lifestyle conversations together very soon. I enjoy them so much with you <3